Report: Cardinals among teams with interest in Alex Smith

In his last full game as a starting quarterback, Alex Smith completed 18 of 19 passes and tossed three touchdowns in a Monday night win in Arizona, a performance which earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

According to the Arizona Republic’s Kent Somers, the 49ers’ NFC West rivals are “exploring the possibility” of trading for Smith. Per Somers, Arizona is intrigued by his “experience, intelligence and talents” and attributes his pre-2011 struggles to San Francisco’s revolving door of coaches and offensive coordinators.

The Chiefs have been viewed as Smith’s most logical landing spot and the 49ers, presumably, would prefer to trade him out of the division. Still, with two weeks remaining before the start of the league year – when they can finalize a trade – they will no doubt continue to entertain all offers.

The fact that Smith appears to be generating a fair amount of interest on the trade market among quarterback-needy teams isn’t surprising. In his past 32 games (30 starts) dating back to Oct. 17, 2010, Smith has thrown for 38 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and posted a 95.1 rating. He will turn 29 in May.

Before the 2011 season, the Cardinals traded cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 second-round pick to the Eagles for quarterback Kevin Kolb. In two injury plagued seasons, Kolb has thrown 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and posted an 83.2 rating in 15 games (14 starts). He missed Arizona’s final 10 games this past season with a rib injury.

Per the Arizona Republic, the Cardinals would part ways with Kolb if they landed Smith. Kolb is due a $2 million bonus if he’s on the roster March 17. His base salary in 2013 is $9 million. Smith has a base salary of $7.5 million next season.